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Abra
Abraham Altaïr Botros (known to family and friends as Abey '''or '''Abra) is the third and youngest child of Nora and Owen Botros, and the seventh grandchild (out of nine) of the late Abraham Botros, previous Headmaster of Hogwarts. He has an older brother, Hassan Botros, a Professional Quidditch player, and an older sister, Lilian Botros, who works for the British Ministry of Magic. Abra spends most of his time with his cousins, who are closer to himself in age, particularly Junia, Alanna, and Aaron Botros. His other cousins are Rula Van Hutton, Eureka Russ, and Marci Haneul Lee. However, regardless of age, Abra is close to all of the Botros grandchildren (except Marci) as a result of spending every summer with them in the Botros mansion for as long as he can remember. An unofficial Botros family tradition sees Botros girls sorted into Slytherin, and the boys sorted into Hufflepuff; exceptions to this include Abra, his older sister Lilian (Ravenclaw), and his cousins Eureka and Alanna (both female Hufflepuffs). When he is not at Hogwarts, Abra lives with his family in the Botros mansion in Alexandria, Egypt, along with his cat, Mr. Squiggles aka Squigs (a gift from Hassan) and his crup, Feo (left to him in his grandfather's will). Abra is currently a fifth year at Hogwarts, where he attends with Junia, Alanna, and Aaron. He is a member of Gryffindor house, though he was a rare four-way Hatstall, with the Hat ultimately deciding between Gryffindor and Slytherin. To this day, Abra maintains that he should have been a Hufflepuff, as the Hat even admitted that he would have been a comfortable fit for the house, had it not been perhaps a little too comfortable. Personality and Key Characteristics Abra tends to wear his emotions very openly and, never having much reason when he was younger to do so, is terrible at suppressing them. The baby of his immediate family - and one of the youngest of his extended family - he is doted on by many of his older relatives, particularly his mother. Abra does not have much of a relationship with his father in the way that his older siblings had, and rarely gets to see him as he is always working. As such, he is much closer to his mother than to anyone else. Though he is outgoing and confident around his family and friends, Abey tends to be very shy around people he doesn't know very well. From around the age of ten, he started trying to overcome his shyness by acting instead as different characters or other people, and occasionally embellishing the truth in his attempts to connect with others. He has a flair for dramatics, especially around his family and friends when his behaviour can be surprisingly eccentric, but he nevertheless has a soft heart and a gentle temperament. When he is not surrounded solely by those he is close friends with, Abra is more likely to stay quiet and keep to himself, and generally prefers to be by himself. Those who witness his expressiveness around his friends, his flair for dramatics, and his attraction to theatre and the arts, might mistake him for an extrovert, but Abra is actually incredibly introverted. He is incredibly sociable and outgoing when he is at ease, but finds it easiest to recharge - and more comfortable - to be on his own. Often, he becomes very quiet, and on these days he prefers spending time alone, working on his artwork, or perhaps sitting with a family member or friend who will let him to keep to himself. Once he has 'recharged', Abra can easily return to his loud and energetic state, quite willing to resume life at a million miles an hour. He is incredibly physically affectionate with his friends, and enjoys hugging everyone, holding hands, and giving kisses on the cheek to guys and girls alike (though in terms of attraction and romantic feelings, he is gay). However, though he can be loving and gentle, on a bad day Abra is liable to be snappy and lose his temper even with those he loves the most. He suffers from PTSD due to a traumatic event in his first year, and if an unlucky individual manages to trigger one of these episodes, they are likely to be faced with either an unpleasant or simply distraught side of Abra. Though he is very close with his siblings, Abra also grew up spending a lot of time with his cousins, due partly to being closer to them in age, and partly because of the Egyptian custom of loyalty and togetherness with the extended, as well as immediate, family. Due to family connections, Abra also personally knows a number of famous wizards and witches, including British ex-Minister Sherman Clark, Quidditch player and wrockstar West Odessa (who gives him guitar lessons), and Quidditch player Alice Odessa, all of whom have known him since birth. Abra's own brother is a professional Quidditch player for the Montrose Magpies, and also plays for the Egyptian national Quidditch team. Because these people have always been a part of his life, Abra has never considered these connections to be all that out of the ordinary. Abra is most at ease around his family. Traditionally in Egypt, family loyalty is incredibly important, and Abra has always found this comforting, and knows he can always count on them for support. Likewise, he is fiercely loyal to his family, and puts them before everything else. However, being a younger member of such a big family, with many successful relatives and a lot to live up to, can have its drawbacks. Abra often feels under immense pressure to live up to the family name, and especially to prove himself worthy of the name 'Abraham Botros'. For a long time, he desperately wanted to prove himself (particuarly to his father, with whom his relationship is practically non-existent), and to be the best at something ''in order to find his own worth. Perhaps his biggest fear is that he might disgrace his family in an unforgivable manner. He was not alone in these worries either; Abra often confides in his cousin Junia - who, being only 15 months older, is the Botros grandchild closest to Abra in age - who shares his worries about living up to the family name. As he has grown older, Abra has started to consider that his desire to prove himself to others has inadvertently set him on a path doesn't work for him. He has become conscious of the fact that his main motivation in life has been the approval of other people, and has started - with some difficulty - to change the way he motivates himself and to focus on what he enjoys rather than what he thinks his family expects or wants him to do. Abra sets himself incredibly high expectations to meet. He is a perfectionist, but when he inevitably cannot surpass his own impossibly high standards, he becomes upset, demoralised, and anxious. When he was younger, he had a tendency of starting projects and picking up hobbies, only to quickly abandon them and forget about them once he realised he wasn't instantly perfect. Luckily, Abra is very receptive to encouragement and the support of his family and friends, and can usually be spurred on, but he does have the tendency of not trying at all at things he knows he cannot do, so intense is his fear of failure. As he has grown older, anxiety has become more of a problem for Abra, and though he uses his talent for acting and his creativity to push past his shyness and general anxieties, he does suffer from panic attacks that strike out of nowhere. These panic attacks first arose shortly after the time that his grandfather became ill and have become much worse since his first year at Hogwarts, thanks having a terrifyingly close (and traumatic) brush with death. He has regular sessions with a Healer, who has diagnosed him with both generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder in addition to post-traumatic stress disorder, which exist independently of each other. In school, Abra struggles with some of his lessons due to severe dyslexia, which wasn't diagnosed until he was twelve, enough that he started to skip classes in his first year, and continues to do so when he feels overwhelmed. In the classes that he attends, Abra will often only provide an answer to a question if he is sure he's right. When this happens, he also has a tendency to genuinely forget to raise his hand, and will often blurt out his answers instead. As his time at Hogwarts has gone on, Abra has put less and less effort into the subjects that he struggles with, only seriously committing to the classes he knows he can do well in. His attendance is below average and he has a habit of copying his homework from his dorm-mates (or else not submitting any at all), and in general his grades are worryingly poor. He does not enjoy school, believes he is only in the way there, and feels as though he is wasting time at Hogwarts when he could be pursuing art or other creative pursuits somewhere else. Overall, Abra is a highly anxious individual who wears his emotions openly. He does not always like to say what he is thinking, but is so terrible at hiding his emotions he rarely tries to. He is fiercely loyal to his family and his close friends, and loves spending time with all of them, but ultimately is highly introverted and more often than not can be found spending time on his own. Abra tries to stay positive and to be brave and go about life as usual as much as he can, but he is frequently gripped by anxiety, fear, and panic, which has become more pronounced since he hit his teen years. Interests and Abilities Abra has been interested in flying and Quidditch for as long as he can remember, due in part to the influence of his family and family friends. Though he has no desire to play professionally, and his interest in the sport has dwindled as he has advanced through his teenage years, Abra plays for his local team in the Egyptian Under-17s league, and for his house team at Hogwarts. He is an incredibly skilled flyer and seeker, though he finds the attention during and after Quidditch games a little difficult to deal with. Having a highly creative mind, Abra is incredibly artistic and spends a lot of his time drawing and painting. However, he is a Tetrachromat (due to a rare magical mutation, as this condition usually only affects those assigned female at birth), which causes him some distress in colour-matching whilst painting as he sees far more colours than anyone else might. Outside of drawing and paining, Abra's creative interests also stretch to music. He plays the guitar and sings, having received lessons from West Odessa in both of these areas. Abra also likes to act; he was part of a muggle drama club for a year before Hogwarts, as well as Hogwarts' own drama club, and has had roles in multiple productions. In terms of magic, Abra has no particularly exceptional or special magical abilities, other than being able to cast a non-corporeal patronus, which he achieved in fourth year (and which came as a huge surprise). Abra once had an interest in duelling but, once it became clear he was not going to be the best at it, he quit Duelling Club in favour of practicing other defensive magic on his own and with Professor Hirsch. Theory work was always a huge weakness for Abra, but he balances this out by being skilled in the practical application of magic, especially Transfiguration. Abra is bilingual, and was brought up speaking both Arabic and English. Quidditch could fly before he could walk, thanks to Hassan // quidditch camps age 4 - 11??? i think // tries out for Alexandria U14 age 12 after first year, makes it as reserve seeker // bumped up to starting seeker after second year, age 13 // tries out for the U17 team after third year, age 14, first year he's eligible for the team in terms of age - makes it as starting Seeker // tries out for Gryffindor quidditch team in fourth year, becomes Gryffindor seeker History Pre-Life and Early Life Abra's father, Owen, is the oldest son of the late, and much loved, Abraham Botros (who, in turn, was the son of Abraham Botros Sr., who fought and played a significant role in the 1997 wizarding war when he helped to hide muggle-born witches and wizards). Owen attended Hogwarts like the rest of his family, and was a member of Hufflepuff house. After graduating from Hogwarts, and then from Wizarding University, Owen returned to Egypt where he met Nora. After a rocky, on-off relationship, Owen and Nora married in 2063; this was shortly after a long break-up, during which Owen realised he could not live without Nora, leading to him proposing out of the blue even though she was seeing someone else at the time. Nora broke off her relationship in order to be with Owen. Owen and Nora's oldest son, Hassan Botros, was born in 2065, and their daughter, Lilian, arrived in 2067. The relationship between parent and children was like in any pureblood family; Owen and Nora watched their children closely for signs of magic, and were relieved when they were eventually accepted to Hogwarts. Hassan was raised by Owen to have a high sense of responsibility, and it was always fairly clear that Hassan and Lilian were the most cherished grandchildren. The plan had always been for Owen and Nora to have just two children, but, years later, Abraham Jr. came along too. Born on the 12th April 2080, in Alexandria, Egypt, the age gap between Abra and his siblings is significant, and in terms of age he is much closer to his cousins than to his brother and sister. Abra has lived with his parents in the family mansion in Egypt ever since he was born, and has lived an incredibly privileged life. Every summer, at his grandfather's insistence, the family would gather in the Alexandria mansion and spend the entire summer together, a tradition Abra's own father now continues to insist upon. Some of Abra's earliest memories are of running or flying around the grounds and the house in Egypt, playing games with his cousins and siblings. He showed his first signs of magical ability as a toddler, when he would change his toys into different colours, and continues to display accidental magic from time to time when he is particularly upset. Pre-Hogwarts Prior to attending Hogwarts, Abey - as he was referred to at the time by his siblings and cousins - did not attend wizarding primary school, nor was he officially homeschooled. However, his mother ensured that he would be appropriately educated in preparation for Hogwarts. Abey was raised bilingual, speaking both English and Arabic. He can speak and understand both of these fluently, but has much more trouble with reading and writing in either language. Being related to a famous Quidditch star - and pseudo-related to two more - Abey was raised knowing how to fly a broom. He participated in Quidditch camps from the age of four, and met some of his longer lasting friends there. In 2088, when Abey was eight years old, a curse-breaking accident put Abraham Sr. in the hospital, triggering memory loss and episodes of confusion. Abey and the younger members of the family were permitted to visit their grandfather in the hospital from time to time, though not often, as Abraham Sr. would often have trouble remembering them, which was upsetting for everyone. Around this time, Abey, already tormenting himself over the pressure of living up to the Botros legacy, and now with the added worry about his grandfather, went from shy to neurotic in terms of his anxiety. At the age of nine, he had his first panic attack, which would turn out to be the first of many. In the summer of 2090, when Abey was ten years old, his grandfather revealed to him and his siblings during a visit to his St. Mungo's room that he would be returning home to the Alexandria mansion that day. Abey was elated, confident in the belief that his grandfather must be well enough to come home again. Hassan and Lilian - and the Clarks, who had also come to visit - had some reservations, but Abraham Sr., stubborn and determined, did indeed return home that day. Later that night, back in Alexandria, Abraham Botros Sr. passed away surrounded by family and friends. His death had a huge impact on the surviving members of the family. In the last year before Abey was due to set off for Hogwarts, he was enrolled in a muggle drama class, in an attempt to try and boost his confidence, and to prepare him for mixing with other children. Abey loved it, and especially loved learning how to act through his anxiety, and to put on a performance in order to get through any situation. The night before his eleventh birthday, Abey was visited in his sleep by a Dream Messenger who left him a dream token, informing him he had gained entrance to the African magical school, Uagadou School of Magic. Upon waking, and discovering it had ''not ''just been a dream, Abey was at first intrigued and then, when he realised he did not also have a Hogwarts letter, utterly distraught. He begged his mother to get him into Hogwarts instead, fearful that he would end up different from his family, or separated from them. His mother promised that she and his father would do their best to transfer him, but the tears were for nothing, as later that day an exhausted barn owl arrived bearing Abey's Hogwarts letter, having simply taken slightly longer to reach the Egyptian household. Despair quickly turned to elation, and Abey was soon celebrating the fact that he would soon be joining his older cousins, Rula and Junia, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hogwarts First Year (2091 - 2092) As excited as Abey was for his first year at Hogwarts, his anxiety about going to live so far away from home and for so long had reached a fever pitch by the time he had to board the Hogwarts Express. Overcome with an intense flood of emotions, Abey ended up sobbing to his parents and siblings that, actually, he didn't want to go to Hogwarts at all, and clinging to his mother at Platform Nine and Three Quarters rather than board the train. His tears lasted a long while, but Abey was soon cajoled away from the majority of his family and onto the train, where Rula and Junia were sure to keep reassuring him. As Abey would later explain, it wasn't that he genuinely didn't want to go to Hogwarts, but more that it was suddenly sinking in just how far from the majority of his family - in particular his mother - he would be, especially as he knew he would struggle with written correspondence to and from home. However, the knowledge that he would still have two of his cousins nearby served to keep Abey reassured, not to mention the fact that he had accidentally-on-purpose stowed away a certain illicit crup of his along for the ride, intending to keep Feo at Hogwarts with him. Junia was let in on this particular detail, and loyally agreed to keep the secret. But the next hurdle came much too soon for Abey's liking. The matter of Abey's Sorting was one that - in his mind - was, and had always been, a sure thing. However, when his turn came to wear the Sorting Hat, Abey found that it was not exactly willing to put him in Hufflepuff, where he thought he belonged. Instead the Hat, though it admitted that Hufflepuff would have been a good fit for Abey, decided that he would grow and develop better in another house that put him out of his comfort zone. It debated for a long while between the three remaining houses, eventually narrowed the choice down to Slytherin and Gryffindor, and ultimately sorted him into Gryffindor (this happened after five minutes exactly, making him a Hatstall, though only just). Abey was distraught, and convinced that he had betrayed his entire family. He spent the rest of the feast at the Slytherin table with his cousins, mostly sobbing on them, and his dramatic emotional display attracted the attention of many in the Hall. But the Hat's decision was final, and Abey knew he would be stuck in Gryffindor house no matter how much he cried. He was, however, reassured by the fact that his own sister, Lilian, had also defied the tradition by being a Ravenclaw, and that he himself had been sorted into the same house as his Alice (Alice Odessa), with whom he was very close. The majority of the school year was marked by Abey's attempts to feel at home in Gryffindor house. He struggled with homesickness a fair amount; not only did he miss his home in Egypt, he also missed his cousins, who lived a million miles away (aka: the Slytherin common room), not to mention the Hufflepuff Common Room, the place he had been fully prepared to live in. Early in the term, he tried to switch houses with his friend, Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne, who had been sorted into Hufflepuff and was immensely unhappy about all the plants in the Hufflepuff common room. When it became clear that a house swap would not be possible, Abey and Derf began having sleepovers in an empty classroom. Things were made slightly easier, however, by the fact that Abey's childhood friend, Théodore Montmorency, had also been placed in Gryffindor and lived in the same dormitory. As time went on, Abey made many more friends in Gryffindor, and started to feel a little more at home there - though he would always claim to be a Gryffindor hostage, wishing he was living in Hufflepuff with Derf, and his other friend, Hazel Martin-Pryce. It very quickly became clear to Abey that learning magic would not be as easy as he expected. He excelled in the practical aspect of his classes, but more often than not, theory would be involved, and Abey soon started to struggle and lag behind, failing to produce classwork and homework. One day, he was inexplicably gripped by a sudden and intense feeling of impending doom, and becem convinced he was about to die (a panic attack, which he had experienced occasionally since the age of nine) and so he hid himself in a closet until it was over. After that point, Abey started skipping certain classes, usually by feigning illness, attending only the ones he knew would not expect him to do much reading or writing or those in which he was supposed to hand in homework he'd not done, as his anxiety surrounding those classes felt like a precursor to those unpleasant sensations he preferred to avoid. His difficulties did not go unnoticed, either; the astute Healer Reed was quick to pick up on what was going on, especially after Abey turned up at the hospital wing having eaten a Fever Fudge in order to give substance to his story. On a more positive note, Abey got to join the Hogwarts Duelling Club once he was at school, something he had been planning for years, determined as he was to be the greatest at something, and wondering if that something might be duelling. Other significant events involved his cousin Rula getting engaged and trusting Abey and Junia with the information before she told the rest of the family over the Easter holidays. This occurred not too long after Abey himself ''technically ''secured himself a (maybe) girlfriend in sixth year Gryffindor Aslan Evans after he sent her a 'Will you be my girlfriend?' note during a portal-related lockdown. He and everyone else knew that the relationship was not a real one, but he enjoyed pretending otherwise. Abey's first year at Hogwarts was marked by the very pressing issue of a magical portal that had appeared in the school. Multiple students - including Abey's own cousin, Junia - were, at various points, snatched by the portal and taken to an alternate Hogwarts (complete with terrifying monster) before eventually returning. At one point, Hogwarts was put into a sort of lockdown when three boys - Rooney Bronwyn, Henry Whittebrook, and Carlton Lewis - disappeared into the portal for a full five days before being returned. Aside from his concern about the students who disappeared and hopes for their safety, and his naturally high levels of anxiety, Abey himself was not too worried about the general situation; having lived an incredibly sheltered life, he believed that everything would work out fine, because a happy ending was always around the corner, especially at Hogwarts. Unfortuntely, he very abruptly lost this outlook when he and his friend, Simon Rockefeller, were snatched by the monster and dragged to and through the portal, mere seconds after being told to head to Professor Sokolov's office on their own during another sudden lockdown. The monster took them back to its lair and thrown into the corner of a room, practically onto the bones and remains of a human adult - the school caretaker who had gone missing at the start of the year. Simon suffered from severe asthma, and so Abey screamed for the both of them and tried to fire spells at the monster to make it go away, but the monster only grabbed his wand and snapped it clean in half. At this point, the monster grabbed Abey, who stopped screaming and started sobbing. The monster was only seconds away from sinking its teeth into him when it suddenly stopped and pushed Abey and Simon onto the wall, where they were secured by tendrils, before it crawled up onto the ceiling and waited. Shouts from a rescue party had reached the lair - students and staff of Hogwarts had entered the portal to find the two first years - and Abey screamed as loud as he possibly could in order to get their attention, and also to warn them that the monster was waiting for them, until he ended up repeatedly sobbing 'It's waiting'. In no time at all the rescue party arrived, fought off the monster, cut Simon and Abey down from the wall where they were being held, and took them back through the portal. Once everyone was back in the regular Hogwarts, Miffy and Storm - the most recent Hogwarts poltergeists - flew through the portal and, in doing so, resealed it. Even after the portal was closed, Abey was traumatised and remained completely shaken by the event, refusing to be alone in Hogwarts without an adult or family member nearby until the end of term, terrified that the monster would come back for him. On top of everything else, he lost his wand to the portal too, having had it snapped cleanly in half by the monster during Abey's attempts to defend himself. He spent the remainder of the school term attempting to recover from the ordeal, but was reluctant to let Healer Reed dull the memories, given what he had seen of Abraham Botros Sr.'s memory problems after the curse-breaking incident. Abey relied instead on Calming Draughts and Dreamless Sleep Potions, though he would often close his eyes and be convinced that he was back in the alternate Hogwarts. By the end of term, though Abey was far from top in any of his classes, he had earned 108 points for Gryffindor and managed to place second out of all of the first years in the Duelling Club tournament, behind Derf, who placed first. Second Year (2092 - 2093) Once he was back home in Egypt for the summer and away from Hogwarts, Abey felt much better. However, he became very clingy with his mother, still had nightmares, would frequently wake up screaming 'it's waiting', and refused to sleep with the light off. Otherwise, his days were spent in the safety of his house or out at the beach, swimming in the sea, with the familiar environment (but very different from at school) playing a key role in his recovery from the whole ordeal at the end of his first year. Abey and Junia both planned to try out for the U14 Alexandria regional quidditch team, with Abey making it as the reserve Seeker. Going back to school for his second year, however, Abey took a giant step back in terms of his recovery. He became permanently on edge and terrified, more so than at the end of his first year, reacting badly to triggers that occurred in many of his lessons. He began avoiding the fifth and sixth floors - the floors in which the whole catastrophe from the year before had occurred - including the classes on those levels. His avoidance of classes and homework intensified, but for the most part there was one major event during the school year which served as a welcome distraction. Abey's second year was also the year that Hogwarts hosted the IMPS tournament, a competition held for the schools of Hogwarts and Ilvermorny. The students and staff of Ilvermorny all came to stay for the duration of the tournament, which was held in the form of four different tasks over the course of the term. As an extra treat during the tournament, there was also a party around Christmas which took place on a ship out on the Black Lake. Unfortunately, one of the IMPS competitors had spiked the food and drink with Veritaserum, unbeknownst to anyone else, causing mayhem in the social lives of the students. Abey was affected by this when he witnessed a truth-potioned Derf loudly profess his love for Valerie Gray, an Ilvermorny competitor that the Hufflepuff had developed an obsession with. To this, Abey could only admit to himself, out loud because of the Veritaserum, that this made him jealous of Valerie Gray. This was the first real sign that he had started to develop feelings for Derf outside of his friendship, and he spent the rest of term analysing and processing what these feelings might mean. He soon realised that he only tended to notice boys rather than girls, and had developed a vested interest in one of those boys in particular, and he quickly accepted that he was very likely gay. Abey made it to the end of his second year this time with no major upsets or near death experiences, of which he was thankful. He came second in the Duelling Club tournament again, which left him frustrated in repeatedly ending up second best, and he started to question whether Duelling Club was really for him - i.e., disappointed at not being able to be the best at something, he began to consider quitting it altogether. In his end of year exams, which he could not escape this year, Abey just managed to scrape through with minimally low passing grades. Third Year (2093 - 2094) The start of the summer also marked the start of the Quidditch U14 season. After the previous starting Seeker for the Alexandria U14s aged out, the position was freed up, and Abey easily earned the spot for himself after trying out. His team played a good season, with Abey catching more snitches than not, helping his team to finish near the top of the national league. After talks with his older brother, Hassan, over the summer, Abey was set up with regular sessions with a private mind healer, who diagnosed him officially with generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and proceeded to help him cope with those issues. Additionally, he started to see an extra tutor who specialised in dyslexia, to help manage his schoolwork and day-to-day life. He went on seeing these professionals throughout the school year. Back at school, Abey mustered up the courage to audition for the school play, a production of The Fountain of Fair Fortune, in which he was cast as a narrator alongside Derf. Outside of rehearsals and classes, Abey started to withdraw more, preferring his own company especially while in some of his less pleasant moods. He continued to draw, paint, sing, and play guitar, devoting much of his time to being alone, and all of his alone time to his artwork and his music. Conversely, his schoolwork - as usual - fell by the wayside. In the latter half of term, there was an incident which Abey, along with everyone else involved in the play, witnessed. A student, later confirmed to have been possessed, entered the play rehearsal in the Room of Requirement and handed out cursed objects to Professor Myers, and a couple of other students - one of which was Junia, Abey's cousin. When Junia and the others touched these objects, they too became cursed. Abey was terrified for Junia, and had to be forced away from her so that the Headmistress and staff could work on healing the students and Myers. Junia was ultimately okay, physically, but after the incident, Abey and his two younger cousins, Alanna and Aaron, were pulled from school until the end of term; Junia stayed behind to focus on her OWLs. The day before he was due to leave the school, Abey shared his first kiss with Derf, while saying goodbye to him. Being pulled from school meant being away from his friends, no longer being able to do the play, but had the minor upside of not being committed to the end of term exams. Fourth Year (2094 - 2095) At the start of the summer after his third year, Abey decided that 'Abey' was far too childish a nickname for a teenager such as himself, and started requesting that people call him 'Abra' instead. When the U14 and U17 Quidditch seasons started again, Abra tried out for the Under-Seventeen team for Alexandria, in which he was now old enough to play. He expected to be offered the position of reserve Seeker at the very most, but found that the Seeker who had aged out of the U14 team the year before had gone on to play for Egypt instead. In her absence, the starting Seeker position for Alexandria was empty, and Abra earned it for himself. He spent the rest of the season in a state of indecision, finding that the U17 teams had somewhat bigger crowds in the stands, and that he had to struggle through more anxiety that ever in order to play. Ultimately, however, Abra did not quit the U17s, and learned to enjoy playing with this team just as much as he had in the lower age bracket. Later in the summer, Abra attended a pool party held by another rising fourth year, Zita Valla, a Slytherin. Once back at school, Abra's life in the feelings department became more confusing than ever. At the Start-of-Term Feast, he witnessed Zita Valla approach Derf and kiss him. Confused and upset, Abra became saddened and a little jealous. He later discovered (and used his own logic to deduce) that the kiss had meant nothing and that Derf had not expected it or any feelings from Zita, but was also informed that Derf had kissed another Slytherin in their year, Natalie McKinley. This, Abra knew, ''did mean something, as he knew that Derf and Natalie had been close for some time. Because of some miscommunication, regarding Derf believing that Abra wanted to be in a relationship with him (though his insecurities had actually meant the opposite), Abra became upset and slightly withdrawn, and, for a short time, avoided Derf rather than attempted to talk through the issues with him. As his fourth year progressed, Abra quickly discovered that his schoolwork was not about to get any easier. He struggled more than ever with classwork and homework, often relying on help (aka copying) from his dormmates, though his grades continued to suffer as he became more disheartened with his own abilities, and thus isolated himself from others. However, while he struggled academically, Abra was excited to hear that Quidditch was finally coming back to Hogwarts; he tried out for the team, and made it as starting Seeker for Gryffindor. He also continued his time with drama club, after briefly considering quitting, given the disasters that had befallen that one rehearsal the year before. This term, the play was to be the musical, The Wizard of Oz. Abra auditioned, and got the part of the cowardly lion, the appropriateness of which did not escape his notice. In terms of other school clubs, he quit the Duelling Club in his fourth year, having accepted that this was something he was never going to be the greatest at, and being unwilling to continue falling short of being the best. Throughout the year, Abra suffered with worsening nightmares and flashbacks related to his first year, the growing intensity being partly the result of the stress surrounding his academic life and his worries about schoolwork. It was after one such episode of nightmares that Abra was up earlier than usual in the music room, where he was found by a patrolling Derf. In their conversation, the two finally shared some very frank, honest, and open communication about the feelings they shared for each other, while also clarifying that neither wanted to be in a relationship or felt ready for one. Gryffindor's performance in the Quidditch Cup had been promising this term, and they were in the lead until their last game. They lost this game and ultimately missed out on winning the cup, something Abra found difficult to deal with, though he accepted the loss as just another part of the game. Thoughts of Quidditch angst, however, were driven out of his mind by the end of term field trip to Dufftown, a local muggle town, to which the Hogwarts staff had taken students as a treat before exams started. // the dufftown fiasco, witnessing derf and jessa and a bunch of students get possessed and rescuing scamander // final exams rip abra Fifth Year (2095 - 2096) quidditch and relaxation // open mic night in alexandria // the internal dilemma over whether to take potions for anxiety/panic disorders // OWL stress before term even begins // is made gryffindor quidditch captain // OOC Information * RPed by Felixir * FC: George Shelley (current), Romeo Beckham (age 4 - 14) Category:Characters Category:Pureblood Category:Hogwarts Category:Class of 2098 Category:Gryffindor Category:Hatstall Category:Yearbook Category:Quidditch Category:Quidditch Captains